User:LouisAragon/sandbox/Bagavan
| St. Hovhannes Mkrtich (St. John the Baptist's), monastery of Bagavan Բագավանի Սուրբ Հովհաննես Մկրտչի վանք վանք | |
|---|---|
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Armenian Apostolic Church |
| Province | Ağrı Province |
| Region | Armenian Highlands |
| Status | Destroyed in 1915 |
| Location | |
| Location |  Turkey |
  Shown within Turkey | |
| Geographic coordinates | 39°37′23″N 43°31′31″E / 39.6231°N 43.5252°E |
Bagavan (also spelled Bagawan; Armenian: Բագավան) was an ancient locality in the central part of Armenia in the principality of Bagrevand. Situated on a tributary of the Euphrates at the foothills of Mount Npat, to the north of Lake Van, Bagavan held one of the major temples of pre-Christian Armenia.[1][2][a] After the Christianization of Armenia, Bagavan became the site of a large church and monastery.[2] Pillaged in 1877 by the Kurds, it was completely destroyed in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide.[1] The site is located in the village of Taşteker to the west of modern Diyadin, Turkey.[1]
Name[edit]
The name Bagavan literally translates as "town of the gods".[1] Agathangelos explained Bagavan as Parthian for Armenian dicʿ-awan ("town of the gods"), but Movses Khorenatsi held it as bagnacʿn awan ("town of altars").[1][3] Ptolemy recorded the name in Greek as Sakauana.[1]
History[edit]
Bagavan was the site of one of the most important shrines of pre-Christian Armenia, and an eternal flame was kept burning there.[1][2] The royal family of Armenia celebrated the first day of the first month (Nawasard) of the Armenian calendar at Bagavan.[1] Bagavan was also a centre for the worship of Aramazd.[2][4] Movses Khorenatsi attributed the foundation of the altar at Bagavan to "the last Tigran" and the establishment of the New Year festival to King Valarsaces; however, the modern scholar Robert H. Hewsen notes that these theories were probably Moses's own inventions.[1]
According to Agathelos, Tiridates III of Armenia (r. 287–330) and his court were baptized by Gregory the Illuminator at Bagavan in the Euphrates.[1][2] According to tradition, Gregory founded the monastery of St. John the Baptist at Bagavan, from which the town received its Turkish name Üç Kilise ("the three churches").[1] The Sasanian king (shah) Yazdegerd II (r. 438–457) camped at Bagavan in 439 during his punitive campaign in Sasanian Armenia.[1]
Bagavan's St. John the Baptist church was completed in 631–639 on the left bank of the Euphrates river.[1] Hewsen notes that it was originally surrounded by a "high wall flanked with towers which protected the monasting buildings within".[1] In 1877, it was ransacked by Kurds before being completely demolished in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide.[1]
References[edit]
Sources[edit]
- Hewsen, R. H. (1988). "Bagawan (2)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 4. pp. 407–408.
- Humphreys, Mike (2018). "Bagavan (Diyadin; Uç Kilise; Tashteker)". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - La Porta, Sergio (2018). "Zoroastrianism, Armenian". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Russell, James R. (1987). Zoroastrianism in Armenia. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674968509.
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